Sustainable Agriculture Innovating A
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Jiaxin Luo Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China China, Factor 6: Sustainable Agriculture Innovating and promoting the traditional dike-pond system in China Agricultural development must take constraints of resources and environment into account. As a kind of Stereoscopic Agricultural farming mode, dike-pond system smartly uses the relation between creatures and energy to form an efficient and environmental-friendly agricultural harvest cycle. This paper studies the dike-pond system from three aspects: what is the dike-pond system, how to make it more useful for us, and why we need to study it. Agriculture plays an essential role in food safety, environment protecting and benefits of the country. However, as a country people more than 1.3 billions , China has a limited agricultural resources per person. Moreover, with the trend of industrialization and urbanization, the occupation of agricultural resources makes it worse for farmers. Since the reliance of primary industry on the environment is the most tremendous among those of the three sectors, the appearance of updated Eco-friendly agricultural methods is extremely urgent. The dike-pond system, which is valuable in fields of material, energy and economics, is a Chinese traditional method worthy to be referred. The research of the dike-pond system took place early in the Pearl River Delta. It has been recorded in the <Shunde county annals>, the <Nanhai county annals>, and the <Jiujiang village annals>. According to recent research, the pond agriculture is an Eco-friendly agriculture which does planting, aquaculture and processing industry utilizing the water-land system formed by the dike and pond. The traditional form of agriculture appeared in Ming dynasty and was greatly spread in the Qing dynasty and caused the research climax in the 1980s. Starting from the 1950s, the academia has done several major researches on the dike-pond system. Then in the 1980s, the geographic institute of Guangzhou explored the dike-pond system and the Land and water interactions through the locating observation method and Semi locating observation method. From 1980s, western scholars have also focused on the system adapted in the Pearl River Delta. In 1992, UNESCO named the dike-pond system a typical example of regional agriculture development, which incurred more attention to the system in the world. Numerous scholars have dug into the topic from aspects such as ecology, spatial framework, and the material-energy flow. Firstly, the traditional utilization of the dike-pong system is worth discussing. The mode of agriculture recycling economy was formed in the East-Tiaoxi river valley in Huzhou plain in the 17th century. The indigenous had been employing the circular agriculture until the 1970s. Focusing on the Hydrological characteristics, this dissertation describes the agricultural environment, and discoursed the basic structure of the dike-pond system which involved the planting and utilization of aquatic plants and mulberry, fish management of the ponds and the feeding of Hu Yang-sheep. The dissertation also analyzed the typical ecological techniques in the district. The lake area appears to lean against south from the lakeside of the tai lake, the east and west Tiao stream join at the south of Huzhou and flow into the Tai lake. The East Tiao stream flows calmly but it is easily robbed by the West Tiao stream of the entrance to Tai lake. As a result, the water does not discharge easily, which forms flood quite often. In that case the clever indigene digs deep into the flooded pools and uses the soil dug to form the dike for planting mulberry trees, and what’s more, the resourceful farmers use the leaves to feed silkworm in seek of producing silk to sell. This was the rudiment of the dike-pond system[1]. The planting, weaving and aquaculture form a peaceful ecosystem around the East Tiao River district and then the Pearl River Delta. The Wang family has survived for more than 300 years adopting the traditional dike-pond system and would best demonstrate the brilliant ideas included in this seemingly simple way of production. It is important to understand the use of pond to fully comprehend the system we are talking about. It is a subsystem that establishes and protects the aquarium environment. The ponds are in different shapes, such as rectangle or circle, which are corresponding to different usages of the pond. There are generally four uses of the pond: designed for krills, parent fish, food fish, and all fish. The difference of fishes decides that the pond tree needs to be different to fit the particular type of fish. For example the carp needs for the convenience of breeding and spawning. Also the size of the ponds varies as the number and age of the fish is different. It is most common for the ponds to be 0.5 hm2, and the depth of the pond for the grown-ups is mostly 3-6 meters, the babies 2 meters.[1] iIn addition, some of the farmers would fertilize their ponds by using the dried grass or the droppings of animals and human. The mulberry trees are another main reason that the Wangs adopted this kind of agricultural procedure. As we all know, the main export of China used to be silk and won China a good fame for its wonderful quality. Therefore, many people in southern china used to devote themselves to the chain of silk production. So the leaves of the mulberry trees and the food of the silkworms appears to be extremely important and plays a great part in the farmers’ profit. People fertilize the tree using the droppings of the farm animals and the mud in the ponds which contains the leftovers of fish. Every August and December, the Wangs would clean the ponds and transfer the mud to the dike, where the trees live on. It is a win-win activity for both the pond and the dike. It helps the dike to be more fertile while the pond becomes clearer, deeper and better for the growth of fish. Also the sun helps to kill most of the diseases and bacteria in the pond that has been used for more than half a year. The shape of the dike is worth discussing. Its intersection surface is mostly the shape of a trapezoid, for it is the best shape to fully utilize the fertilizer. That shape ensures that the fertilizer given to the ground surface would not be wasted if washed off, and may even give back the fertilizer to the pond where the fish live in. Thus, it helps the mulberry trees to extend their root deeper into the dike, which will make the trees grow better and give more leaves. Adopting this kind of method, the local farmers would easily enhance and raise the productivity of the dike-pond system. <1>Construction Committee economic survey statistics written: <Chinese economic history-wuxing, Zhejiang>twenty-forth year of The Republic of China, page64 The Hu Yang goat is another main source of income for the Wangs. Using the left leaves and trunks trenched from the trees and the aquatic plants, it is easy for goats that have been domesticated for more than 500 years to grow faster and healthier. The kids mostly take this job as a member of family and the group. They would normally cut grass and gather leaves in autumn when the leaves are about to fall and the grass to perish. These kinds of food contain the maximum of carbon hydrate and the goat fed would be plump enough, wool-producing, and easy to breed. Also the fertilizer the goats give would be perfect and nutritious for the mulberry trees, therefore, every family keeps several goats to produce meat and fertilizer since it is easy to breed the goats and their meat are delicious to eat. After all, the fundamental base of the system developed in the East Tiao area is the convenient and outstanding environment. It provides the dike-pond system with essential materials and energetic source which are stable and unbreakable. Thus, the rivers and lakes form an aquatic environment for the ponds to operate. All this form a high level of agriculture Secondly, modern innovation of the tradition would bring the system to live. Through scientific planning and design, modern sightseeing agriculture ecology system should have a variety of functions including serving as ecological agriculture demonstration, tourism site, organic farm, popular science education and agricultural science illustration program, so as to realize the combination of ecological benefit, economic benefit and social benefit. As an ecology agriculture demonstration, the system serves as a perfect illustration for farmers outside the East-Tiaoxi area. Sightseeing agriculture ecology garden design USES a variety of ecological agriculture pattern layout. The purpose is through the ecology principle, to help the country build up a rational utilization of natural resources, maintain ecological stability and sustainable and efficient agricultural ecosystem, improve agricultural productivity, get more food and other agricultural and sideline products. Besides, the productivity in rural areas that adopt the system would be raised and they can set good examples to other areas. It is important to the Chinese agriculture because we are now feeding 22%of the people using 7% of the world’s land. This system would give several ways to produce more agricultural products and to increase the farmers’ profit, as it is apparently low at this moment. As a tourism site, the system serves as a place of relaxation. Sightseeing agriculture ecology garden planning, being about agricultural production, makes full use of rural landscape, the local ethnic customs and local culture. The system will be based on natural ecological aesthetics gardening techniques, allowing the development of agricultural and sideline products and tourism products with distinctive features.